[typo] [ANN] Release of Typo 6.0.6 – a huge one

Hello,
5 weeks after releasing Typo 6.0.5, we're proud to release Typo 6.0.6 into the wild. With 403 files changed, 8526 insertions and 4961 deletions (before generating the CHANGELOG) this is our biggest release of all time. This was made possible thanks to Yannick François joining the core team, the growing amount of active contributors and a very crappy weather above Europe during our summer holiday.
You can download Typo 6.0.6 at https://github.com/downloads/fdv/typo/typo-6.0.6.zip or https://github.com/downloads/fdv/typo/typo-6.0.6.tgz.
What's under the hood?
* Rails 3.1 ready
We've got a long way since Typo was first released for Rails 0.6 and Ruby 1.8.4. Typo 6.0.6 is now Rails 3.1.0 ready and runs on both Ruby 1.8.7 and 1.9.2. We're now waiting for Passenger (mod_rails) to be fully Rails 3.1 compliant to switch to this new exciting Rails version.
* URL shortener
Adoption of microblogging has made URL shorteners an important part of our daily browsing life. Hosted services may disappear one day or another taking your shortened URL with them, so we have given Typo its own URL shortener.
When you publish a new article, Typo generates a shortened URL that will redirect to your content. No more risks of disappearing shortened URLs, YOU keep the control.
* Recaptcha support
Silvio Relli did a great job adding Recaptcha support to Typo 6.0.6. Recaptcha is a captcha system that both fights against spam and uses successful decodings to helps digitise books.
You can use both Recaptcha and Akismet on a Typo installation.
* New toys for plugin developpers
We wanted to make Typo easier to extend for plugin developpers. Typo 6.0.6 introduces a bunch of new tools for them.
** Users custom fields
Users can now have an infinite nummer of custom fields, that will be used by plugins developpers without having to modify the database. Settings are easy to add and easy as pie to use.
** Contents custom fields
Articles and pages can now have an infinite nummer of custom fields, that will be used by plugins developpers without having to modify the database. These custom fields are easy to add and easy as pie to use.
** Custom routes for plugins
User defined plugins can now use their own route without changing the original routing files. This allows plugin developpers to create powerful extensions without to worry about what Typo's routing file looks like.
* A powerful SEO oriented blogging engine
We've worked a lot on SEO, aiming at being as powerful as Yoast SEO Plugin on Wordpress. This release is a first step with the following feature.
** Support for rel='canonical' in pages header to avoid duplicate content.
A canonical page is the preferred version of a set of pages with highly similar content.
It's common for a site to have several pages listing the same set of products. For example, one page might display products sorted in alphabetical order, while other pages display the same products listed by price or by rating. For example:
http://www.example.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish&trackingid=1234567&sort=alpha&sessionid=5678asfasdfasfdhttp://www.example.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish&trackingid=1234567&sort=price&sessionid=5678asfasdfasfd
If Google knows that these pages have the same content, we may index only one version for our search results. Our algorithms select the page we think best answers the user's query. Now, however, users can specify a canonical page to search engines by adding a link element with the attribute rel="canonical" to the head section of the non-canonical version of the page. Adding this link and attribute lets site owners identify sets of identical content and suggest to Google: "Of all these pages with identical content, this page is the most useful. Please prioritize it in search results."
** A custom template for meta title and description
Since meta title and description are very important for SEO, it is very important to be able to setup its own content. Typo now provides powerful customizable templates for both of them, with nice default enabled.
** Making meta keywords optionnal
Since search engines do not consider meta keywords anymore, some people want to disable them to save on their page weight. This option makes it possible.
* New content templates
Typo can now handle multiple content types through dedicated templates. Let's say you want to display text articles and pictures only. Just create the content type, write a quick template for rendering, write your article, and your done. This new feature comes with handy helpers to generate per template menu...
This makes Typo theming even more powerful.
* Control your cache from the admin
The long removed cache sweeping interface is now back, with interesting statistics about cached files.
* Attachment thumbnails
Attached images are now generated in 3 sizes: original, medium and thumb. Both medium and thumb sizes can be defined in the administration.
* Pictures albums in lightbox
Typo Lightbox macro now supports set parametre, which allows you to create nice photo albums.
* More readability and usability
The admin sections have been reorganized for more readability and usability. We've redisigned some interfaces, work still in progress.
* Code refactoring
Typo code is as old as Rails, which means we still carry old, deprecated code. This version brings lots of refactoring, dead code removal, speed optimization and even more testing.
* Norwegian translation *
Lars Tobias Skjong-Børsting has been doing a great job providing a full norwegian translation in an impressively short time.
* Bug squashing
With code refactoring usually comes bug squashing. This version got rid of more bugs than a full tank of DDT would have, without the cancer effect.
* A community effort
Typo 6.0.6 would have never been possible without our community of contributors, listed in alphabetical order: Huy Dinh, Fish, Justin B. Kay, Maarten Mulders, Silvio Relli, Melanie Shebel, Lars Tobias Skjong-Børsting, Eric Sorenson, Yule.
We hope you'll enjoy using this version as much as we enjoyed crafting it.
All the best
The team.
--
Frédéric de Villamil
"What's mine is mine. What's yours is still unsetteled" – Go player proverb
frederic at de-villamil.com tel: +33 (0)6 62 19 1337
http://t37.net Typo : http://typosphere.org